Evangelisation

Home Mission Sunday – 17th September 2017

21/08/2017 1:00 pm

On 17 September, the Catholic Church celebrates Home Mission Sunday. This is an opportunity to inspire Catholics and help them to engage with the mission of the Church, whilst supporting the work of the Home Mission Office.

Often when we hear the word ‘Mission’ it is associated with the valuable work of sharing our faith and helping people in other countries. Whilst this is still important, the Home Mission Office helps Catholics to share their faith with those they love, know and meet on home turf. If home is where the heart is, the best place to start sharing our faith is with the people we carry in our hearts.

The Home Mission Office is part of the Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis at the Bishops Conference of England and Wales. Our long term vision is to help the Catholic Church make the ‘Joy of the Gospel ’ a reality in England and Wales.

To help us realise our vision we will focus on the following areas this year:

Enabling people to pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire their loved ones to turn towards Jesus.

Inspiring communities to consider their approach to those seeking Christ by developing an attitude of welcome, acceptance and love.

Providing support and training for those engaged in sharing their faith.

Inspiring Catholics

Many people find the idea of talking about their faith to others daunting, but we can take comfort from knowing that it is the Holy Spirit who will spark an interest in the hearts of those whom we long to know the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our first step is therefore to pray for those we love and care for, that they be open to the Holy Spirit. With this in mind we have created parish resources to be launched on Home Mission Sunday for use throughout the year. If you would like to receive occasional online prayer intentions, resources and encouragement please sign up to our intercessors’ newsletter.

In addition to the printed resources available, please feel free to download and use the following resources in preparation for Home Mission Sunday this year:

‘…to evangelise is first of all to bear witness, in a simple and direct way, to God revealed by Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit, to bear witness that in His Son God has loved the world - that in His Incarnate Word He has given being to all things and has called men to eternal life.’ (Evangelii Nuntiandi 26)

Whilst some people dedicate their lives to sharing the Gospel, as part of the Catholic Church each of us is a witness to our faith. However, if we are not aware of our attitude towards others, we may find that it is not ‘good’ news that we convey. Thankfully this is easily remedied by adopting an attitude of welcome. By making the decision to place care for others over our own needs we can make the world of difference to someone searching for Christ. We do no less than reveal God’s love in a smile, a greeting or a helping hand.

Announcement before the second collection

Often when we hear the word ‘Mission’ it is associated with the valuable work of helping people in other countries. Whilst important, we also need to share our faith with those we love, know and meet – right here on home turf. By donating to the second collection you will enable the Home Mission Office to produce resources, help parishes and equip people to share their faith with others.

Collection Remittance

The total amount collected in your parish for Home Mission Sunday should be sent to your Diocesan Finance Oﬃce, according to the procedures applicable in your diocese. It should be clearly identiﬁed as having been collected for ‘Home Mission Sunday 2017.’

Each Diocesan Finance Oﬃce will then forward the cumulative sum to the Bishops’ Conference Secretariat. Please do not send money directly from your parish to the Bishops’ Conference Secretariat.

If parishioners wish to make a donation by cheque, please kindly ask them to make cheques payable to your parish. These can then be paid-in and accounted for on your parish weekly income record as a donation to a second collection and incorporated within the total sum.

We also have an online donate facility. (found in the top right hand corner of this page)